Martin van Blerk - Analyst, Portfolio Manager and Investment Committee Member
Passed out of the Karasburg High School (Namibia) in 1988, served in the South African Special Forces until 1991 and attained a Bachelor of Arts (Law) and Post Graduate LLB (Law) degrees from the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) by 1995. Shortly thereafter Martin founded a friends and family fund, which he later converted into Baobab in 2003. Baobab was the first hedge fund in the Republic of Botswana at the time. In 2005 Martin agreed to provide Portfolio Management services to Canada’s largest insurance company, Fairfax Financial Holdings in addition to managing Baobab. In 2011 Baobab was relocated to the BVI and Martin focussed his time exclusively on allocating capital for Baobab.
Barry O'Connell - Investment Committee Member
A graduate in Commerce from the University of Stellenbosch, Barry worked for Marsh Captive Insurance in Dublin and has held various positions in Investment Banks in the United Kingdom and Australia. Most recently he was the Managing Director of the Penrich Group of Companies in Botswana for 4 years, until he founded BOC Insurance Brokers in 2009.
Matthew Hazell - Head of Compliance
A graduate in Economics from the University of Birmingham and holder of the Financial Planning and Investment Management Certificates. He has over 18 years compliance and regulatory experience both as an employee of the UK financial service regulator and in compliance consulting roles in the UK. Matthew's most recent role is as a Director of Consulting at Newgate Compliance limited, a firm that provides regulation and governance advice to more than 150 regulated entities in the UK. Matthew headed up the team that oversaw Baobab IM’s original application to the FCA in 2011. Subsequently Matthew has been involved with Baobab’s compliance function in various capacities and in 2017 he became Head of Compliance.
Saurabh Shukla - Investment Committee Member
Holder of a Master’s in Finance from the ICMA Centre, University of Reading, UK and a Bachelor of Economics from Loyola College, Chennai. Saurabh has over 11 years’ experience in financial services and research. Prior to joining Baobab he was an Associate with the Investment Banking team of IIFL Capital in Mumbai. During his time there he worked on a number of ECM, Private Equity, M&A and Consulting assignments. He joined the Baobab team in 2014.
Philip Evans - Head of Operations
After graduating from the University of the West of England, Phil joined the British Army, commissioning from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 2006. During his time in the Army he held a number of leadership and staff positions serving all over the world, deploying to both Afghanistan and Iraq. After leaving the Army, Phil moved to work for Barclays in London, initially in a role within the Investment Bank and subsequently in the Wealth Management business were he led a team which managed the portfolios of HNW private clients. A holder of the Investment Management Certificate he joined Baobab in August 2019 and is accountable for Business Development, Operations and Compliance.
Daniel Clark - Operations Manager
Prior to joining Baobab Daniel spent two years working as a Compliance Analyst for the Conservative Party, his remit covered financial reporting to the Party’s regulator, ensuring the Party met all statutory reporting deadlines and supporting the national party, MPs and their staff by offering guidance on data protection and donation law. Before this he spent four years working for the John Lewis Partnership in the Fixed Assets team at Waitrose head office providing the Partnership with accounting support. A holder of the Investment Management Certificate, Daniel joined Baobab in September 2019.
Tess Moore - Administration Assistant
After school Tess spent a couple of years gaining experience abroad (France, Germany, Hong Kong) in a wide variety of roles before taking on a marketing role as an account executive for Ideas Industry, an email marketing company. She then went on to gain more administrative experience as an office administrator and receptionist in a number of companies. Tess joined the team at the end of 2018.
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